I'm with you 100%. My teenage kids are exposed to (and enjoy) most of that Creem Top 25 through me, but unfortunately it's not cool with many of their friends to listen to that 'old stuff.' The current state of rock/pop is indeed absolutely abysmal IMHO. Most of it sounds so unoriginal and homogeneous as are the artists themselves.

I am actually a "youth" being 15 and to be honest i have most of the bands in to top 20 and to be honest ween and the pixies. I can't stand our "generation's" music at all.Kudos Jefferson Starship for the win XD

It's a fact restated over and over on Retrospace - music today is just plain awful. Look at the list from 1975 - there's no comparison to today.... but why? There's a lot of theories: big greedy record companies sucked the life out of music and that rock has been taken as far as it can go. But I'm not sure I buy all that.

Todays rock bands don't ALL suck, but I think it's safe to say the glory days are over. I just scratch my head and wonder why.

I like most of those bands in the 1975 list (you can drop #'s 4, 5, 12 ans 17 as far as I'm concerned). Really Jefferson Starship? By 1978 they were well past their prime. Anyway, I don't listen to the radio anymore not so much because the music sucks (although it does) but because the djs suck. I get my new music from two 'song of the day' podcasts. I have no idea if these songs are played on the radio or not (see above, I don't listen to the radio), but I keep probably 90% of the songs. The music is as good as anything I've heard in the last 40 years.

As to the Jefferson Starship inclusion - this is an actual 1975 CREEM reader's poll, so it wasn't my choice to put them up there. I mean "Sparks"? C'mon, no way.

And, yes, I agree there's good stuff out there.... it's just not listened to. Plus, do your daily podcasts compare to anything by Led Zep, Sabbath, Floyd? You get my drift? They're probably nice to listen to - but, there's really no comparison.

As to the 1975 groups, I can't TELL you how completely I had forgotten about Fee Waybill and the Tubes!

A friend of mine started exposing me to "today's" music a couple years ago and there is some good stuff out there. The problem is there are no standout styles so that I can recognize the group if I ever hear anything else by them. Add to that the fact that they usually don't last more than a few years...Is Matchbox 20 still together? they were okay I guess.

Just joking. I actually LOVE a lot of those retro bands, and agree, today's music just doesn't compare percentage wise... but there are a few. "Keane", for example, "The Strokes", "Coldplay" (sorry), "Foo Fighters", "Weezer" etc... Most though, suck (ESPECIALLY those gosh awful Disney freaks that I FORBID any of my kids to listen too, even the 4 year old) and it's pretty depressing to turn on the radio anymore. That goes for tv as well. There's a few good shows, but overall it's a sucky suckfest.

Ummm, Anonymous.... The Foo Fighters, Weezer, Keane and The Strokes have all been around for at over ten years. A poll of the top acts of 1995 would probably include every band you mentioned. I'm talking about TODAY - I mean, the Rolling Stones and Journey still may tour, but I don't think they qualify as "today's music".

There are some relatively current bands that I do happen to like: Belle & Sebastian, Kasabian, The Shins, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Kaiser Cheifs,... but as Booksteve just said, they're kind of forgettable by comparison with the most of the names on the list from '75.

I'm not saying band for band, there's any real comparison today... but, to say they all suck is a bit extreme. Plus, I'm pretty sure more than a couple of those 1975 bands had been out for years before this list was compiled and have since sold out big time, peddling whatever cheesy product they could to earn a buck along with the young folk. Is it way more difficult to find the great today? Absolutely! I AGREE WITH YOU, Gilligan.

All of bands on the 70's list are great bands of varying degrees, but all great. I just wonder when we (or our descendents) gaze back in time what bands of the last decades will make future lists of great bands to remember? I somehow think the list will still the one from the 70's (and some 60's guys too, like those 4 mop tops)

I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Re - music of today: First 3 Queens of the stone age albums are classics. Disregard the others. Them Crooked Vultures is also beyond excellent....Field Music, The Dead Weather....that's a short list to be sure, but it's all good music. They're all islands of reality in the sea of shit music has become in recent years. Nothing will ever touch the classics of course (Zep, Sabbath, The Stones, The Stooges, CAptain Beyond, etc). Kudos on this blog btw....It's like a time machine to my youth :)

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